Dissertation Information for Billy R. Wilkinson NAME: - Billy R. Wilkinson
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1971)
ADVISORS: - Oliver L. Lilley
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - None
MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected
Title: REFERENCE SERVICES FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: FOUR CASE STUDIES
Abstract: Lamont Library, designed especially to serve
Harvard undergraduates, was opened on
January 3, 1949. Many universities have
followed Harvard in creating seperate
undergraduate librares which have served as
campus study halls, social centers, reserve
book dispensers, open shelf browsing
collections, audio-visual facilities, and
centers for reference assistance. Although
descriptions of undergraduate libraries
exist in the literature of librarianship, no
studies attempt to evaluate particular
services.
The major purpose of this study is to
identify and evaluate reference services for
undergraduate on university campuses-- both
in the undergraduate and main university
libraries. The University of Michigan with
its Undergraduate and General Libraries and
Cornell University with its Uris and John M.
Olin Libraries were chosen as case studies.
Reference services for university
undergraduates are then contrasted with
those at the liberal arts colleges of
Swarthmore and Earlham.
For each institution, the historical
development of library services is traced
and data are presented on all services
provided for undergraduates. Against this
background, current reference services and
library instruction programs are described.
To ascertain the actual use made of
professional reference staffs and to
determine the types of questions
(information, reference, search, or problem
question) asked by undergraduates, reference
desk activity was monitored at selected
times during September-December, 1969.
An auxiliary study was undertaken at the
union catalogs of Michigan's General Library
and Cornell's Olin Library to determine if
unassisted use by undergraduates of the
union catalog increased use of the main
library and decreased use of the
undergraduate library. Undergraduate users
were interviewed during five-day periods at
Michigan and Cornell.
It was found that:
1) The Michigan and Cornell undergraduate
libraries both experienced an increase in
the number of substantial reference
questions during their first years.
However., more recently, the quantity of
reference questions has declined.
2) Communications between the staff in
undergraduate libraries and university
faculty concerning reference services for
students have been minimal when contrasted
with the more extensive communications
between liberal arts college librarians and
faculty.
3) No effective means of stimulating use of
reference services (such as integrating
bibliographical lectures by librarians with
courses at the exact time students have need
of such assistance) have been developed by
undergraduate libraries. In contrast,
Earlham librarians have developed an
extensive program of library instruction
integrated with courses.
4) The types of questions asked by
undergraduates at reference desks in main
university libraries, undergraduate
libraries on the same campus, and college
libraries varied, but among the more
substantial reference questions,
bibliographical assistance with the
library's own catalogs and holdings was the
most numerous type of question, except at
Swarthmore where bibliographical
verififcation of materials not on the campus
was most numerous.
5) Unassisted use by undergraduates of the
union catalog increased use of the main
library and decreased use of the
undergraduate library. Many students (59% at
Michigan and 75.6% at Cornell) had not used
the undergraduate library's catalog before
going to the union catalog.
Other findings: (1) a very brief time was
spent by librarians with individual
students: (2) librarians raarely initiated
reference encounters: (3) evening hours were
busier than afternoon hours at the
undergraduate library reference desks: (4)
counseling of students in a reader's
advisory capacity was a small portion of
reference activity: and (5) informal
personal instruction to students in the use
of the library also constituted only a small
part of reference services.
At the dedication of Harvard's Lamont
Library, Harvie Branscomb suggested "that at
last we shall have found a way to bridge the
oft-discussed gap between class [two lines
blurred] that full advantage has no been
taken of the opportunities afforded by the
creation of undergraduate libraries.
Librarians in the Michigan and Cornell
undergraduate libraries have not closed the
gap between class instruction and reference
services.
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MPACT Scores for Billy R. Wilkinson A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:01:43
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